Despite strong anti-establishment sentiment, which contributed to Donald Trump’s election and Bernie Sanders’ strong primary performance, more than 98% of U.S. House members won re-election in November. Not only were most incumbents re-elected, they were re-elected by significantly more comfortable margins than in 2014. The “incumbency bump” -- our measure of the strength of congressional incumbents -- rebounded from a 20-year low of 2.55% in 2014 to 3.2%. In other words, incumbents earned an average of 3.2 percentage points more of the vote than the partisanship of their district suggests they would earn.

We asked Jean-Marie Pottier, the editor of Slate France to explain the history of the French system – and the way it shapes the country’s politics and enhances the idea that every vote must count equally.

Changing How America Votes, edited by Todd Donovan, includes 13 innovative ideas about how to assess our democracy and make elections in the United States better. FairVote’s reform vision is well-represented in the collection, including a chapter making the case for the Fair Representation Act for Congress.

Following the 2016 presidential election, five states saw petitions for recounts, but only one state (Wisconsin) conducted a full recount. After the dust has settled, the state is trying to change the process. The process does need reform, but unfortunately the bill being considered in Wisconsin goes in the wrong direction.

On HBO’s “Last Week Tonight,” John Oliver tackled an issue that many consider the most pressing threat to our democracy: gerrymandering. The most important part of the segment came, however, when Oliver acknowledged that the root of the problem is not the folks who draw the lines, but our winner-take-all system of elections.

Last month, FairVote released its projections for the November 2018 U.S. House elections that will take place nearly two years from now. If every current incumbent (excluding the five members of the 115th Congress who have already vacated their seats) were to seek re-election, we can confidently project that at least 368 of them, 205 Republicans and 163 Democrats would win.

In 2014 the Mexican Government, lead by President Enrique Pena Nieto, adopted an electoral reform package containing a number of policies such as the adoption of an independent redistricting commission. This changes have been hailed by reformers, but also include more controversial policies such as the easing of a ban on re-election to the legislature.

On March 2nd, Northern Ireland’s citizens cast their votes to elect the nation’s 2017 Legislative Assembly. The Irish nationalist Sinn Fein (SF) party closed the gap on the predominant Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) while smaller, more moderate parties such as the Ulster Unionist Party and the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland gained improved representation.

In the Democratic primary for mayor in St. Louis, MO, Alderwoman Lyda Krewson eked out a slim victory against the other six Democratic challengers, winning with only 32% of the popular vote. That means more than two thirds of voters picked another candidate besides the victor. There's a better way to vote in primary elections like these.